Fr33 Aid abandons non-profit IRS application
April 15th, 2013
Happy Tax Cattle Day everyone! Today is that magical time of year when, with fear in my heart, I mail my income extortion papers to the human farmers who fleece us under threat of violence. Were I a braver man I would refuse, but at least I am still free enough to share some news with you about a courageous organization that is declaring their financial independence.
Fr33 Aid is willfully and publicly severing their ties with the IRS and forsaking all the banking privileges that entails entails in favor of becoming an entirely bitcoin based organization. As far as I know they are the first charitable organization to do this. I hope you can appreciate how radical this is.
In an attempt to protect themselves from asset confiscation, many organizations seek non-profit status from the IRS. Fr33 Aid applied for non-profit status in April 2012 and they’ve been entrenched in the bureaucracy ever since. Today Fr33 Aid announced they are abandoning their IRS application and adopting bitcoin as their primary financial instrument.
Bitcoin has been making mainstream headlines since the dramatic correction we experienced last week, dropping from $260 to $60. As bitcoin rockstar Roger Ver noted after the so-called crash, bitcoin has only increased 500% so far this year.
Fr33 Aid determined that their attempts to comply with the confusing demands of the IRS were not only unnecessary, but counterproductive to their mission of supporting volunteers who provide first aid and educational services at liberty-oriented events, and demonstrating the value of voluntary mutual aid. Fr33 Aid Treasurer, Teresa Warmke said:
“Now that there are ways for us to do banking without government involvement, we decided fulfilling (IRS demands) would not be a responsible way for Fr33 Aid to spend its money nor for our volunteers to spend their time.”
By making the courageous transition into a bitcoin based organization they will be able to retain complete control over their assets, circumvent the complex and burdensome requirements of state regulated banks, and focus their energies on their important mission. Teresa adds:
“It feels great to stop doing business with government agencies now!”
This as an important step toward the development of a robust non-profit sector in the bitcoin economy. Further, Fr33 Aid’s Director of Operations Stephanie Murphy and Treasurer Teresa Warmke will participate in a panel about Bitcoin for Non-profit Organizations at the Bitcoin 2013 conference in San Jose, CA next month. They will be joined by Angela Keaton of AntiWar.com and Carla Gericke of the Free State Project.
Fr33 Aid will keep their current bank account so they can continue to accept dollar donations via check, credit card, PayPal and Dwolla, but the account will be kept as empty as possible to minimize the risk of either bank or government confiscation in the future. Teresa says:
“We don’t consider any of these payment methods as trustworthy as direct bitcoin donations. In future, any donations we receive via traditional banking methods will be converted to bitcoin in a timely manner.”
Fr33 Aid is still committed to the level of transparency that the state recognized non-profit status would require. They publish an annual report on their site with at least as much information as is normally disclosed on IRS Form 990.
You can send Fr33 Aid bitcoin donations to: 1Fr33Aidr4gokeCcHHxbnDi8vasKHEaRUm
